1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system and method which automatically locates and loads a device driver in a computer for a peripheral device attached to the computer.
2. Discussion of the Background
Computer users often purchase peripheral devices to be attached to their computers. Common examples of such peripheral devices are a printer, a CD writer, scanner, network interface cards, display cards, etc. FIG. 1 shows a computer 1 with a peripheral device 2 attached thereto. The peripheral device 2 is also accompanied by software 3 to be installed in the computer 1. The software 3 includes a device driver so that the computer 1 can properly drive and operate the peripheral device 2. The device driver software 3 is typically stored on a floppy disk, CD-ROM, etc. packaged with the peripheral device 2 and which the computer user installs into a floppy disk drive, CD-ROM drive, etc. of the computer 1. After installation of the device driver software 3 the computer 1 will include the device driver embedded in its operating system for driving the peripheral device 2.
The background system of including a device driver on software 3 packaged with the peripheral device 2 results in certain problems for both the computer user and the manufacturer of the peripheral device 2.
First, with the background system shown in FIG. 1 the computer user is required to install the device driver software 3. In that case, there is always the possibility that the computer user will perform an improper operation in installing the device driver software 3. That may particularly be the case if the device driver software 3 includes device drivers for several different peripheral devices and/or if the computer user is required to make certain selections or settings during installing the device driver software 3, which can increase the chance of the computer user making errors in installing the device driver software 3.
Moreover, from the vantage point of the manufacturer of the peripheral device 2, requiring to package the device driver software 3 with each peripheral device 2 has the obvious drawback of increasing costs. Moreover, it often occurs that errors in device drivers are discovered or device drivers are updated after they have been shipped with peripheral devices. In that instance, the device driver software 3 provided with the peripheral device 2 may not be the most up-to-date version of the device driver or may contain minor flaws or bugs, which is also obviously problematic for the computer user.
One manner of addressing the problem of the device driver software 3 containing bugs or flaws or not being the most up-to-date version is to make device driver software available on a web site of the manufacturer of the peripheral device 2. In that instance, the computer user can access that web site and download the updated device driver software. However, that operation requires the computer user to properly access the designated web site and to select the appropriate device driver software from the web site. Such actions are not only time consuming on the part of the computer user but also open up the possibility of the computer user making errors in downloading the device driver software.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a novel system and method for loading in a computer a device driver for a peripheral device which overcomes the above-noted and other drawbacks in the background art.
Another and more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel system and method for loading in a computer a device driver for a peripheral device which requires minimum actions on the part of the computer user.
Another and more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel system and method for loading in a computer a device driver for a peripheral device which obviates the need for device driver software to be packaged with the peripheral device.
The present invention achieves the above and other objects by providing a novel system and method in which device driver software for a peripheral device to be attached to or loaded in a computer is automatically downloaded from a designated world wide web (WWW) site of the manufacturer of the peripheral device to the computer. The computer then installs the downloaded device driver.
More specifically, in the system and method of the present invention a device driver is automatically installed in a computer, the device driver driving a peripheral device connected to the computer. As a first operation in the present invention, the peripheral device provides unique identification data to the computer to which it is connected. The computer then obtains a URL address, which the manufacturer of the peripheral device previously set up to contain the device driver corresponding to the peripheral device, based on the obtained identification data from the peripheral device. Then, the obtained URL address containing the device driver for the peripheral device is accessed. The device driver is then downloaded from the accessed URL address and installed in the computer. With such an operation, the computer automatically installs the device driver corresponding to the peripheral device by accessing the previously established URL address containing the device driver for the peripheral device.
The present invention can employ one of two methods of obtaining the URL address based on the obtained identification data from the peripheral device. A first manner is that the peripheral device itself provides the URL address data within its identification data provided to the computer. A second possibility is that the computer contains a database at least correlating different identification data to URL addresses.